GENETIC TESTING POISED TO SHAPE LIFE DECISIONS

Greater availability of DNA analysis could play into whom to marry, whether to have children

As if love weren’t complicated enough, there’s an emerging wrinkle that could make you rethink marriage, child-bearing or even flirting with someone you have a crush on.

The New Yorker magazine pithily summed it up in a recent cartoon that shows a couple happily exchanging wedding vows. The caption reads: “Do you, Ashley, accept Nesbitt and his genome to be your husband?”

A society-shaking convergence is underway, and it’s being stoked in part by San Diego’s huge science industry.

Big leaps in technology are making it quicker and easier for people to get a look at their DNA. There’s more and more of such data becoming available — and at cheaper and cheaper prices. Schools like the University of California San Diego are drowning in genetic information as they explore which genes might hurt us and why.

Companies such as 23andMe and
Ancestry.com have been simplifying the genetic information they sell to the mass consumer.

And celebrities like Angelina Jolie are making things personal. In May, the actress announced that genetic testing had revealed that she has a high risk of breast cancer, leading her to get a double mastectomy.

The “personal genomics” movement stumbled a bit last week when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration told 23andMe to stop selling its $99, consumer-oriented DNA analysis kits because of concerns about the accuracy of those tests.

The FDA action could be a blip for the industry, which continues to see new companies entering the market. This month, GenePeeks plans to launch a commercial service that checks whether a particular woman is a good genetic match with a particular sperm donor. The service is already generating chatter on dating websites, which give rise to one-third of the marriages in the U.S.

“I can see a future where people who use online dating services like
Match.com say, ‘I want to see your genetic screening profile,’” said Val Catanzarite, chief of maternal fetal medicine at the San Diego Perinatal Center. “Some people say this isn’t how love works. But when you use an online service, you’re already screening for characteristics. People are going to begin asking about genes, and that’s not far away.”

Cinnamon Bloss strikes a cautionary note.

“We are a ways from seeing low- and middle-income people having easy, routine access to their genomic information, especially if they are not educated or savvy enough to seek it out,” said Bloss, director of social sciences and bioethics at the Scripps Translational Science Institute in La Jolla.

“But I agree with the sentiment that genome testing will become ubiquitous in health care eventually, and genetics will definitely play a large role in how couples think about planning a family,” she added.

The potential implications are getting plenty of attention at places such as the University of San Diego, where professor Larry Hinman raises the issue in his bioethics class.

Among the questions: Is genetic testing a romantic buzzkill?

Melissa Georgi, a senior, said during a recent class: “I think it is important to understand each other’s genome going into a marriage. But if (my boyfriend) had a predisposition toward some disease, I would look at every option for helping him. I believe in love more than I believe in giving up on someone based on genetics.”